Hey guys, it’s Greg with Apple Explained, and today we’re going to explore the history
of Craig Federighi, also known as hair force one [clip] We’ll take a look at his early
life, career path, and the work he’s done at Apple.
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So you may have never heard the name Craig Federighi before, but he’s an integral part
of Apple’s executive team.
He serves as Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, reporting directly
to CEO Tim Cook.
Craig oversees the development of iOS and macOS, so that means his teams are responsible
for delivering the software at the heart of Apple’s innovative products, including the
applications, frameworks, and user interface.
Yes, that’s right, he’s responsible for the user interface of iOS and macOS so that
means if you hated the flat, colorful redesign of iOS 7, just know that it wasn’t all Jonathan
Ive’s fault.
So where exactly did all of this start for Federighi?
Well it all began in his hometown of Lafayette, California.
An area known for its beautiful rolling hills, good schools, and wealthy population.
Federighi graduated from Acalanes High School in 1987 which immediately set him on a path
to success, since the high school had a pretty incredible reputation.
It was the first school designed by Ernest Kump and became the prototype for what came
to be known as the "California School,” consisting of rectangular single-story modern
buildings in parallel rows separated by gardens, with no hallways.
Its openness to the outdoors and expansion abilities were revolutionary at the time,
and the style was replicated all across the state.
Federighi’s high school also offered an impressive amount of facilities including
a track, several fields (an astro-turf field, a grass field, and a baseball field), a pool,
tennis courts, two gyms, two quads, and a state-of-the-art performing arts center.
Now I’m not sure if any of your high schools had all of that but mine definitely did not.
But what’s more interesting are the arts programs Federighi was exposed to as a high
school student.
He had the opportunity to take digital design, graphic arts, and video production which may
have helped him develop an interest in the work he’d eventually be doing at Apple.
After he graduated from Acalanes High School, Federighi attended the prestigious University
of California, Berkley.
There, he earned a bachelors degree in electrical engineering and computer science, and went
on to earn a masters in computer science.
Now this is where things get exciting for Federighi.
His professional career began at Steve Job’s computer company called NeXT.
He was interested in developing enterprise programs for the company, something that had
never been done before since NeXT was always focused on the consumer and education markets.
Federighi’s biggest breakthrough at NeXT was creating a piece of software called EoF,
or Enterprise Objects Framework.
It allowed desktop computers to connect with a common database used by a business, something
that may sound simple in theory, but was actually a very complex to execute.
This EoF software that Federighi developed was so robust and innovative that it’s still
a crucial part of the Xcode program at Apple today.
But his career took a turn in 1996 when NeXT was acquired by Apple.
He stayed on board at Apple for the next three years until 1999 when Federighi left Apple
to join the enterprise IT company called Ariba.
The details of his accomplishments at the firm are vague, but what is known are the
leadership roles he played while working there.
First he served as Ariba’s Chief Technology Officer and later as the Vice President of
Internet Services.
But ten years later in 2009 Federighi left Ariba and rejoined Apple, where he helped
lead Macintosh software engineering.
And since then, his role at Apple has only grown.
Just two years after being back at Apple, Federighi was promoted to vice president of
Mac Software Engineering, replacing Bertrand Serlet who left Apple to focus less on products
and more on science.
And at this time, Federighi began to develop a reputation among Apple fans as being quite
the comedian when he started appeared on stage during keynotes.
And his first appearance was during Apple’s 2009 Worldwide Developers Conference.
He helped Bertrand Serlet introduce Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
He didn’t crack any jokes during that presentation, but he did have a very natural stage presence
that would serve him well later on.
Let’s take a quick look at what that keynote was like [clip]
His next appearance was the following year in 2010 during Apple’s “Back to the Mac”
event, where he demoed a few of the new features that were included in Mac OS X Lion.
Let’s look at a clip from that keynote [clip] As you could see, he still had a very professional
demeanor and wasn’t quite ready to show his playful side.
But an interesting power shift took place at the end of 2012.
Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice president of iOS software, left the company, which meant
his position was up for grabs.
And many people in the tech community were left wondering who would fill the void Forstall
left.
Well they got their answer when Apple named Craig Federighi the senior vice president
of software engineering, which meant he would oversee development of macOS and iOS.
Now maybe this new title gave Federighi the confidence boost he needed to begin to cracking
jokes on stage during Apple’s keynotes, or maybe he’d finally just become comfortable
with the environment at Apple.
But either way, his presentation during Apple’s 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference came
as a surprise to most people watching.
He retained his natural stage presence that we had all come to expect, but added some
great humor that no one expected.
During this presentation is when he cracked some of his most memorable jokes that are
still talked about today.
Let’s take a look at some of them
now [clip] As you could see, his jokes were pretty clever
and delivered well thanks to his great stage presence.
So it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that he developed quite a reputation inside and
outside of Apple.
But this was just the beginning of Federighi’s appearances on stage.
The following year in 2014 he presented again during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference
where he introduced iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite.
And again, Federighi gave a great performance.
[clip] Now by this time Federighi basically had his
own fan club, and many articles were written about him by some of his biggest admirers.
Here’s an excerpt from a writeup by Alyssa Bereznak where she writes, "Who is Craig Federighi,
you ask?
Craig is a cold glass of kombucha after a tough Bikram yoga class.
Craig is the high you get when you catch the perfect wave and just carve it.
Craig is ceramic hors d’oeuvres bowls that just came out of the kiln perfectly glazed.
Craig is the grilled cheese on the In-N-Out Secret Menu.
Craig is the open parking spot on a sunny day at the bottom of Mount Tamalpais.
Craig is a long, cold shower after a weekend at Burning Man.
Craig is avocado toast on the porch as the sun rises.”
I wonder if Craig knows someone wrote that about him.
So another year passed and as Apple’s 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference rolled around,
it seemed like Craig Federighi was talked about almost as much as the new software.
And Apple gave the people what they wanted, since Federighi was on stage for the majority
of the 2-hour presentation.
During which he introduced iOS 9 and Mac OS X El Capitan, and he didn’t forget to bring
the jokes [clip] And
he delivered again during Apple’s 2016 Worldwide Developers conference [clip]
But in September 2017 Federighi finally experienced his first technical difficulty on stage during
an Apple Special Event.
Now before we look at the clip, I should preface this by saying that the faux pas wasn’t
Federighi’s fault.
I’ll explain why after we watch what happened [clip] So the reason why Federighi couldn’t
unlock the iPhone with Face ID was because Apple employees had inadvertently triggered
Face ID before the keynote began, requiring a passcode by the time Federighi tried to
unlock it.
So it appears Federighi is poised to become the new presentation rockstar at Apple, a
title no one has really had since Steve Jobs.
And we can expect to see a lot more of him in the years to come.
So that is the history of Craig Federighi, and if you want to vote for the next video
topic, don’t forget to subscribe.
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.